Tophill is a gently sloping area of land on the
Isle of Portland
An isle is an island, land surrounded by water. The term is very common in British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct fr ...
in
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...
, England, rising from sea level at
Portland Bill to near
HMP The Verne at its northern end. On Tophill are five of the
settlements on the island:
Easton,
Weston
Weston may refer to:
Places Australia
* Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra
* Weston, New South Wales
* Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra
* Weston Park, Canberra, a park
Canada
* Weston, Nova Scotia
* ...
,
Southwell,
the Grove and
Wakeham.
Portland stone lies under Tophill, and the strata decline at a shallow angle of around 1.5 degrees from their peak down to
sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...
.
The lower northern end of the island is called
Underhill.
In the north-west corner of Tophill is
Tout Quarry
Tout Quarry, now known as Tout Quarry Sculpture Park and Nature Reserve, is a sculpture park and nature reserve based within a disused quarry on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. It is located within the north-west corner of Tophill. The scu ...
, whilst the nature reserve
King Barrow Quarry lies at the north-east. Near the northernmost point lies the area known as New Ground used as a lookout point, in front of which sits the
Portland Cenotaph.
References
Isle of Portland
{{Dorset-geo-stub